They were far enough to be unseen, but close enough to hear them.
"Ah, you're here at last. Looks like The Boss' info was right. Twice now you've made me taste bitter defeat."
He gave a loud cry, one that was similar to that of a wild cat. Soldiers appeared and crowd the area behind the American. The two rivals were seperated by a small crevice. The soldiers' guns all pointed at the enemy.
"I hate to disappoint the Cobras but you're mine now. All of you, leave us!" the Russian leader commanded, and the weapons were lowered. "It's just you and me. No one to get in our way. Ocelots are proud creatures. They prefer to hunt alone. 12 shots...This time, I've got 12 shots. Okay... Draw!"
And the battle begun.
"Please, Hare? May I? I have a clear shot!" the younger of the two pleaded. She was laying on her stomach, her camo index nearing it's peak. A PSG1 sniper rifle was in her steady hands, moving every direction her target moved. If she had pulled the trigger, the man would be dead, proving her aim was much better than many other's. The elder of the two, Hare, shook her head and leaned against a tree, her back facing the battle.
"We have no authority to, nor is it our battle. Get your finger off the trigger, Tortoise, we have to move. We have to rendezvous with him soon," she snapped as Tortoise had considered disobeying the order and placed her finger on the trigger tightly. At the order, Tortoise had sighed and stood up. It was no use trying to argue with Hare; she was quite scary when she's angry.
The gunshots were loud. And the battle was heated. Nobody noticed the two women slip over to the crevice, and climb down. They knew there were other ways to get down there, but this one just so happened to be the closest.
The only difficulty they had was when Ocelot had tripped over the younger of the two women, and fell behind a rock. Snake, not seeing the girls at all, had merely took it as dodging his bullet. When Ocelot looked back to where he tripped, he saw no one. He quickly regained his focus on the battle, and soon, he and Snake had each other at gunpoint. Before either shot, a swarm of bees appeared.
"Damn, he found us!" Ocelot cursed as the bees began to attack everyone. While the soldiers are all stung to death, Ocelot was able to save himself by twirling his revolvers, shouting at Snake, "You were lucky. We'll meet again!" As he retreated, Snake dove into the crevice, unable to fight off the hornets himself.
Much Later
"Can you believe him?"
"What happened?" Hare wasn't really interested in what Tortoise was upset about. She really just wanted to finish the mission and be on her way. There were things much higher on her list of 'Things I Want to do' than be in the middle of a war in Russia. Like shoot a bullet through her skull.
"That Russian boy...what was his name? Revolver something. A cat...Revolver Tabby Cat. Yeah, I'll stick with that for now," Tortoise said, stiffling a giggle, "Anyway, the jerk stepped on me. He actually tripped over me. Can you believe him? I mean, we weren't really camoflauged, you know? We stuck out like a sore thumb, and he has the nerve to trip over me."
Hare shook her head and sighed. Tortoise could be so annoying sometimes. Then again, she didn't know for sure whether or not she could finish the mission without her. Tortoise was Hare's right hand, in a non-literal way, and the same could be said vise-versa. "I think Revolver Tabby Cat needs new guns. Those revolvers aren't all that good in a fire fight against something like your sniper rifle or my assualt rifle," Hare commented, at least attempting to get into a conversation with Tortoise. It would distract her from complaining about being stepped on. Tortoise laughed and agreed.
Snake watched from the entrance of the cavern. It was the part of the tunnel with the waterfall. There, two women were talking.
One was wading through the water, collecting crabs from the bottom. She had shoulder length black hair and a, more or less, cheerful expression. Brown, graceful, almond eyes eyes darted here and there as she hunted for what could possibly be her only food for a while. She had light brown tan, and seemed to be no older than 18. She was wearing a tan tank-top underneath a black t-shirt underneath Tree-Stripe camouflage, with a sniper rifle strapped to her back.
The other was sitting on the shore, opposite to the one Snake was standing on. She had slightly longer brown hair, with matching suspicious yet weary eyes. She seemed to be trying to concentrate on something, even though she was keeping a conversation with the younger girl easily. She was obviously older by a few years. She had a black turtleneck shirt on underneath Black camouflage, and a FAMAS assault rifle resting on her lap. Two backpacks were resting beside her, obviously each one belonging to the women.
Snake took a step forward, and both girls' stopped what they were doing and pointed their weapons at him. "Who are the Patriots?" they asked loudly, not moving their weapons away from him. Snake stood there, dumbfounded, before taking out his own weapon, "La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo," he answered warily. The two girls lowered their weapons. Snake was about to ask who they were, when he received a call.
Major Zero: Snake? Are you there?
Snake: Yeah, I'm here. Who are these two?
Major Zero: The head of the CIA has been monitoring your progress during both the Virtuous Mission, and what progress you've had in Operation Snake Eater. Apparently, he thought you would need a bit more help in the Operation, and we sent in these two. The older one is Hare, and the younger is Tortoise.
Tortoise: No need to talk about us behind our backs, guys.
Hare: Hello, Major. Apparently, we've completed the rendezvous. Any other orders?
Major Zero: Hello, girls. Now Snake, Tortoise and Hare are going to accompany you on the rest of your mission. Hare here is best when she's supposedly outnumbered. She isn't very good at ammunition conservation, but she is quite efficient when she puts her mind to it.
Hare: I'm just swelling with pride. Note the sarcasm, Major. I can conserve my ammunition when I want to, you know.
Major Zero: My apologies, Hare. I bet that if you really tried, you could actually only use one bullet on a single guard, instead of your normal ammount.
Hare: Ha ha.
Tortoise: Hey! What about me?
Major Zero: Of course, Tortoise. She is a sniper extrodinare. Though she isn't as well suitable to close range combat as Hare, if she catches an enemy at a range, rest assure, you won't be seeing him again.
Snake: I see. But...aren't their names familiar? Like that story.
Tortoise: Ha! he caught it! You owe me money, Hare.
Hare: Damn. No offense, it's just that people just dismiss it as regular codenames. We borrowed our names from the fable, "The Tortoise and the Hare." Tortoise is tortoise because even though she will take up to half an hour trying to get the perfect shot on an enemy--
Tortoise: Hey, that was only that one time, and he was the head of the group!
Hare: --she will, 90 of the time, hit her target.
Tortoise: And even though Hare shoots like a madman, there's no guarentee that her opponent is dead. I've seen bullet ridden guards get up and nearly kill her.
Hare: Only once...
Snake: I still don't think I like this. How can we trust you not to ruin the mission?
Tortoise: That's an insult! We're the best pair you could possibly get stuck with in the whole CIA. Us two haven't failed a single mission yet.
Hare: I agree.
Major Zero: In any case, Snake, they know just about as much as you do on the mission, so you won't have to fill them in on anything. The objectives haven't changed, so you three should best be on your way. Good luck.
End Call